$120.00 CAD
– Sold Out| /
Two photo postcards sent by German POW Paul Piehler, from Camp 130 in Seebe Alberta (Kananaskis), about 60 miles west of Calgary. Sent to Mrs Emma Kocks, Hamburg Germany. Dated 1942 and 1943, both with pictures of a group of POWs.
#1 1942 Barrack ‘3H’
Photo on ‘VELUX” paper of 10 men standing on front of barracks. Sign in front ‘3H’.
Postmarked ‘BASE APO 1942 CANADA’. Stamped in purple ‘PRISONER of WAR MAIL FREE’. Black ‘EXAMINED BY CENSOR’. In circle ‘Ab’
No message from sender.
Corner creases.
#2 1943 Barrack ‘1D’
Photo on ‘AZO’ photo paper of 11 men standing on front of barracks. Sign in front ‘1D’.
Postmarked ‘POW NOV 15 43 130’. Stamped in red ‘PRISONER of WAR MAIL FREE’. Black ‘EXAMINED BY DB 619’. In circle ‘Ab’.
German text “14 XI 1943…..Paul”
Corner crease, couple larger crease lower half.
(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the photo for sale)
Seebe Camp 130, Canada’s first internment camp, was founded on September 29th, 1939, overlooking Barrier Lake approximately 80km from Calgary. Initially, the camp was used to detain civilians, such as sailors from the German merchant navy and conscientious objectors. However, the United Kingdom soon began to send German prisoners of war to Canada, as they were worried these prisoners could present a significant danger in the case of a possible invasion of Great Britain. All in all, 34 000 German soldiers were interned in Canada during World War II. In June 1940, around 650 prisoners arrived at Seebe Camp 130, including some high-ranking officers. The majority were members of the German Africa Corps and had been captured by the British Eighth Army in North Africa.
When the camp first started operations, the 600 German merchant navy sailors interned there slept in military tents. Permanent barracks were later erected to house the prisoners. Soon the authorities started to worry about potential escape attempts, and they built an eighth main watchtower with a powerful searchlight after discovering an escape tunnel. However, there was never actually a successful escape attempt at Seebe Camp 130, even though it held almost 1000 German POWs. This may partly be because the prisoners were treated relatively well in comparison to the POWs in European camps. Although they did have to participate in forced labour, such as the construction of the Barrier Lake reservoir, there was also a billiards room and tennis courts at the camp, and in the winter they had skiing trips.
https://www.goethe.de/ins/ca/en/kul/ges/dsk/dsa/21808410.html
